


What's Inside

by flowerfan



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Comfort, Long-Distance Relationship, Love, M/M, Pie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-07
Updated: 2016-05-07
Packaged: 2018-06-06 23:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6775177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerfan/pseuds/flowerfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> If making apple pies helps Bitty feel a little closer to Jack, so be it.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Inside

When Eric returns to Samwell his junior year, things settle quickly into a routine: hockey, baking, class, baking, hockey, and when he really misses Jack, more baking. This isn’t new for Eric, of course, spending all his free time in the kitchen, staying up late to perfect a recipe, waking up early to get breakfast ready. No one comments on it, except sometimes for the newest members of the team who are still surprised by the fact that Eric is happy to provide culinary treats twenty-four seven. 

But a month or so in to the year, Lardo breezes through the kitchen, squeezing Eric around the shoulders as she passes by.

“Pie’ll be ready soon,” Eric says. “Apple with a-”

“Maple sugar crust,” Lardo fills in. “We know, Bitty.”

She’s gone before Eric can question her further, but when he thinks about it, he has been making a lot of apple pie lately. It’s a classic, of course, and perfect for fall in New England, but maybe a bit more variety is called for. He wouldn’t want anyone to get tired of his pies. And he’s got a stack of them in the freezer, just in case Jack makes a surprise visit, so there’s no danger there.

The next day Eric proudly presents a different pie to Lardo. “Try it – it’s something new.” She settles at the table, digs in, and then raises an eyebrow at him.

“It’s apple, Bitty.”

“It’s apple _cranberry.”_

Lardo smiles fondly at him and shakes her head, then gets up to press a quick kiss to his cheek. “It’s delicious.”

All right, so maybe that wasn’t enough of a variation. It’s not his fault Eric has Jack on the brain. At least when he’s making an apple pie he can pretend he’s making it for Jack, dancing around Jack’s beautiful kitchen in his beautiful Providence apartment while Eric waits for his beautiful boyfriend to get home from practice. 

After class that evening Eric looks through his recipes. He’s got dozens of them, but nothing really seems to suit his mood, so he turns to his teammates. 

“What kind of pie do you like best, Chowder?” he asks, and Chowder’s eyes light up.

Soon he’s got a list of requests a mile long, including some that he thinks the guys just made up on the spot, but he’s excited anyway. 

This keeps him busy for a week or two, but he soon drifts back to apple. Apple with a crumb crust, apple with caramel, apple pear. He’s unwilling to be too hard on himself about it. Baking has always been his safe space. If baking apple pies helps him feel a little closer to Jack, so be it. 

Because it’s gotten harder and harder to be without Jack, these days. The Falconers’ schedule is relentless, and even when Jack has an evening off, there’s always something he’s supposed to be doing. He can’t very well make Jack feel guilty for socializing with his new teammates, either, not when he knows how hard it is for Jack to do it, and how important. So they don’t have a lot of time to Skype. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is.

Jack calls him one night, later than usual, and Eric thinks he’s still half asleep as they talk. He’s curled up under the blankets, his phone pressed to his ear, happy to hear Jack’s voice even if he isn’t completely following the conversation. Lord, he misses Jack.

There’s a lull, and Eric realizes Jack is waiting for him to say something.

“I made a pie today.”

Jack laughs softly. “I figured, Bitty. What kind?”

“Apple.”

“Hmm. Lardo mentioned something about that.”

“About what?”

But Jack doesn’t explain. He doesn’t really need to; Eric’s sleepy mind wakes up enough to figure it out. Lardo has revealed his apple-pie obsession to his boyfriend. 

“Make as much apple pie as you want, Bits. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Finally there are a few days when Eric can get away, and he’s not bashful about finding someone’s car to borrow. He has a key to Jack’s place ( _a key to Jack’s place!_ his brain still squeals from time to time) so he lets himself in, pretty sure that Jack is still at the rink.

There’s music playing in Jack’s apartment, and Eric follows the lilting sound into the kitchen.

_Sugar, butter, flour._ The notes waft through the room as if carried by a gentle breeze. The kitchen is empty, but something smells delicious. Eric investigates, and finds to his great surprise that there’s a pie in the oven.

_Sugar, butter, flour_   
_Sugar, butter, flour_

Eric satisfies himself that the pie isn’t going to burn, and is about to go looking for Jack – surely he didn’t leave the house with the oven on – but then he pauses to listen the music.

_My hands pluck the things I know that I'll need_   
_I'll take the sugar and butter from the pantry_   
_I add the flour to begin what I am hoping to start_   
_And then it's down with the recipe and bake from the heart_

The music swells, and Eric can’t move.

_What's inside, everyone wants to know what's inside_   
_And I've always told them, but I feel something needs to change_

There’s a pot of coffee ready, so he pours himself a cup and sits down at the table, listening.

_You wanna know what's inside?_   
_I could tell you if I wasn't hiding_   
_My whole life is in here_   
_In this kitchen, baking_   
_What a mess I'm making_

When the song ends, he presses repeat, fascinated. It’s a song about baking. It’s a song about someone who uses baking to express themselves, and to escape. Like him.

_Sugar, butter, flour._ He hardly notices when Jack sits down next to him, leaning his head on his shoulder. They listen to the rest of the album, taking the pie out of the oven along the way (apple, he observes, and it’s not half bad, although the crust could use some work). Jack kisses Eric and pulls him on to his lap, and he nestles down, still listening.

“So, what do you think?” Jack asks, when the music ends.

“It’s beautiful.” Which is an understatement. “Where did you find it?”

“Lardo mentioned it. She and Shitty saw the show in Cambridge over the summer. It’s going to be on Broadway soon – we can get tickets, if you want to go.”

“I think I’d like that.” Eric smiles up at Jack. “You even made me pie.”

Jack shrugs. “I figured if baking was so therapeutic, I ought to give it a try.”

“Goodness, did it work?”

“Yeah, I think it did.”

Eric studies Jack’s face. Jack lets him, holding his gaze steadily, and then ducks down for another kiss. “I’m really glad you’re here, Bitty,” he says, his voice low.

“I’m really glad, too.” Eric hasn’t felt so relaxed in weeks. Apparently no amount of baking can make up for actually sharing space with Jack.

When they can’t sit still anymore, they clean up their mugs and cover the remainder of the pie. Eric takes one more bite, and nods approvingly at Jack. “It’s really very good. Just the right amount of nutmeg.”

“Why thank you, Bitty,” Jack replies, wrapping his arms around Eric from the back and tucking his chin on his shoulder. “I learned from the best.”

“That you did.” Eric turns in Jack’s arms and tilts his head up for another kiss. “And I’m glad you made apple.”

“I was a little afraid you’d be sick of it by now,” Jack says.

“So why’d you make it?”

“You haven’t been here in a while… I wanted it to feel like home.”

Eric’s heart leaps in his chest, and he puts a hand to the back of Jack’s head and kisses him until he can hardly breathe. “Enough sweet talk from you, Mr. Zimmerman. Time for bed.”

**Author's Note:**

> The music Jack plays for Bitty is Sara Bareilles’ album of the songs she composed for “Waitress,” which played at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA in the summer and early fall of 2015, and moved to Broadway in the spring of 2016. Listen to “What’s Inside” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CUwcI5goj0.


End file.
